BATAVIA, NY – The New York State School for the blind turns 150 years old this year, and alumni are planning to return for a special sesquicentennial celebration on June 8.
At the same time, the school marks this important milestone, the alumni association is marking a century of existence, and would like to attract as many former students to return to the campus as possible for its annual reunion.
“It’s kind of special in that 100 is a significant number,” said Richard Fiorello of Tonawanda, who attended the school in the 1960’s. Fiorello’s wife, Karlene, also attended the school although the couple met and fell in love later when they both worked for the Internal Revenue Service.
“We’d really like to take the opportunity to invite people who haven’t come in a number of years, or if you have a friend who attended the School for the Blind in Batavia whose never come, this would be a good time to consider it."
Part of the weekend-long reunion in June will involve a picnic with the current crop of students
“I think the alumni get a lot out of it and the kids look forward to them coming,” said Barbara Lemon, the Superintendent at the school. “The alumni serve as mentors for our students.”
“It’s always nice to see the younger kids, and it's nice to do what we can to encourage them," Fiorello said.
For those who haven't been back in a long time, some things will be very different.
First of all there are far fewer students than the hundreds who were in classes when the Fiorello’s attended.
The current enrollment, according to Lemon, is 57…40 of whom – because they live more than 50 miles away, stay here five days a week in dormitories far more modern than these ones which some of the more senior alumni might remember.
Student enrollment dropped over the last generation, in part due to a move to mainstream students with disabilities into public schools, as part of push toward inclusion.
“That changed the way we did business,” said Lemon.
It also changed the very makeup of the student body, from the days when Fiorellos attended.
“Back when they were students, their only disability was blindness. Now we've taken students that have an additional disability to the blindness to qualify,” said Lemon, explaining that a child has to be more than blind to attend.
“They normally would not come here, as hopefully their normal school district would be able to meet their needs."
Some traditions remain, however, particularly in the curriculum where- despite advances in technology- learning Braille is still a vital component of a sightless child’s education.
"Braille is their literacy, and to not teach it would be like teaching them not to be literate,” Lemon explained. “So that’s the piece our students still need to learn.”
There is one more thing which has not wavered in the 150-year history of the school.
And that is, that around here, being blind never stopped anyone from achieving.
A tradition maintained by the current staff and faculty who continue to endeavor to teach the blind, to “see”.
If you know anyone who attended the School for the Blind in Batavia, and who would like more information about the upcoming reunion, contact Richard Fiorello at (716) 873-4132.
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